Women who are being ogled by the office lothario are less likely to do well at work, according to a new study.

It was found that females who were subjected to an 'objectifying gaze' by men at work scored less well in maths tests than those who were not, a daily reported.

Men who were ogled by women, however, scored the same as those who were not.

The findings may have implications for boosting the numbers of women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as science, technology and engineering, said the researchers.

In the study, 150 men and women take part in an interview exercise. Each participant was assigned an interviewer of the opposite sex.

When they entered the room, some of the volunteers, all undergraduate students, were looked up and down from head to waist and back again by the interviewer, who then proceeded to glance at their chest intermittently during the interview.

Afterwards they were given written feedback in which the 'objectified' women were told they 'looked good', as well as an assessment of their abilities.

They then had 10 minutes to complete 12 maths problems.

Women who were leered at got an average of less than five questions right, compared with six if they were not given any unwarranted attention.

Both groups of men scored the same whether or not they were ogled.

However, being stared at seemed to make the women more motivated to interact with their interviewer.

But it is unclear whether this was down to being flattered by the attention or more keen to prove their intelligence.

"It creates this vicious cycle for women in whom they're under-performing in math or at work, but they're continuing to want to interact with the person who's making them under- perform in the first place," said lead researcher Dr Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska.